Despite the proliferation of Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP) serving as school health care providers, there has been little research conducted to identify the differences in their practice as compared to school-based RN's. This prospective, mixed-design study will examine: 1) the differences in the number, characteristics, and health complaints of students assessed by RN's and UAP; 2) the differences in the assessment conducted, the interventions provided, and the return to classroom rates for students seen by RN's and UAP; and 3) the impact of experience, education, and training on these variables. Data will be collected from student health encounters over a four-week period by use of the School Health Encounter Form developed by the researcher. Experience, education, and training will be measured for each school health care provider using the researcher-developed Participant Description Form. Both forms were developed based on previous school health research and will be pilot tested prior to use in this study. Chi square analysis and t-tests will be computed to detect differences between RN's and UAP. Multiple linear regression analysis will be used to test for the effect of experience, education, and training. The results of this work will provide valuable data on the impact of school health care providers on student outcomes. Furthermore, this study will provide a foundation for future work exploring the role and educational credentials needed to ensure that school health care providers are effective in serving students.
